Santa Clara’s big new project and its back story

If you hadn’t noticed, it’s boom time for developers in Santa Clara. One of the densest projects approved recently by the city council is the 825-unit Monticello Village, a mixed-use development on the site of the Extreme Networks campus on Monroe Street, close to Lawrence Expressway. The developer, the Irvine Company, bought the 16-acre property in September, 2012 for a reported $46 million.

What makes this one interesting is the back story. In early March, a vice-president for the Irvine Co., Jon Paynter, wrote to City Manager Julio Fuentes with an intriguing offer. If the city would approve the Monticello project — and litigation challenges were resolved — Irvine would donate $1 million toward BAREC senior housing, a project on the other side of town that has been hampered by the disappearance of the city’s redevelopment agency.

To at least some folks in Santa Clara, it raised red flags as an explicit quid-pro-quo. And Fuentes duly declined Paynter’s proposal, saying that the city could not accept an offer that was tied to the approval of the Monticello Project. In the end, the council approved the Monticello Project last week after the addition of a couple of tot lots aimed at residents with children. Irvine Co. says it has also pledged support to the city’s parks beyond ordinary fees.

When we asked an Irvine Co. spokesman why the Paynter proposal was made, he said it was simply a matter of being a good corporate citizen. “The connection between community support and Monticello is really kind of simple,’’ said vice-president for communications Mike Lyster. “For us to give back to a community, we actually need to have a project in that community.’’ He said the Paynter letter was meant as a funding pledge that would allow the city to secure the BAREC project.